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DOTCOM saga - updates
IainB:
And, following the seemingly excessively violent and over-the-top Dotcom New Zealand police raid at the behest of the US authorities, and the US apparently potentially illegal(?) takedown of the Dotcom business, there's this:
Kim Dotcom - John Banks Song
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8CvRSZxqk_I[youtube]
Apparently, John Banks (who is head of the NZ ACT political party) seems to have "forgotten all about" (amongst other things) having asked for Dotcom to split his donation to the party into 2 x $25,000 "anonymous" cheques, so as to avoid having to declare them as a $50,000 donation from a defined benefactor during the elections, or something. Wouldn't pass muster as being legit in an audit. Probably would have broken some elections laws there, if it were true.
This is a good rap song! - valid political comment using the contemporary musical idiom. :Thmbsup:
According to Ars technica in their post Kim Dotcom lampoons New Zealand MP in his new rap song, the rap was made using the Black Eyed Peas' Printz Board.
from Ars technica:
Last Friday, Prime Minister John Key denied any knowledge of Dotcom "until the day before the raids even though his senior ministers, a string of senior civil servants, and his own electorate staff were involved in matters relating to him. It has emerged that staff in the Prime Minister's own department were aware of Dotcom and his bid through the Overseas Investment Office to buy the mansion in which he lived with his family."
--- End quote ---
-IainB (May 07, 2012, 10:30 PM)
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It seems that the NZ justice system has, albeit slowly, arrived at a conclusion to its deliberations on this case, so far. This would now seem to have become a very serious issue for the NZ judiciary to address.
Scoop.co.nz reports on 2012-06-28: Kim Dotcom wins court challenge that police action unlawful
SpoilerThursday, 28 June 2012, 6:20 pm
Article: Businesswire
Kim Dotcom wins court challenge that police action unlawful
June 28 (BusinessDesk) - Kim Dotcom, founder of the Megaupload website being pursued by US authorities for multiple copyright breaches, has won a challenge to the legality of police searches in New Zealand.
Judge Helen Winkelmann ruled that the warrants used were too broad and thus invalid and the search and seizure illegal. Also unlawful was the release to the Federal Bureau of Investigation of ‘clones’ of harddrives that were seized.
He would hear from counsel before deciding on relief for the plaintiffs – Dotcom, Finn Batato, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk – who sought return of hard-drives among their demands.
Dotcom is accused by US authorities of some US$500 million of copyright breaches. The US has sought to extradite Dotcom, who has been allowed by New Zealand authorities to return to his mansion north of Auckland.
(BusinessDesk)
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The Judgement has been posted by courtsofnz.govt.nz in a pdf document here.
It is discussed in an arstechnicha post of 2012-06-28: Mega-victory: Kim Dotcom search warrants "invalid," mansion raid "illegal" - A New Zealand judge savages the process used to target Megaupload's Kim Dotcom.
(You can read the post at the link above. It looks like quite a decent review of the judgement and the issues.)
IainB:
There is also a fairly detailed post by NZ Herald: Dotcom searches illegal: Judge
- which has a useful link to a Listener article: Kim Dotcom and Megaupload: a 2012 timeline
Renegade:
Sigh... Maybe I'm being cynical, but...
It doesn't matter. It's all completely irrelevant.
They completely destroyed Megaupload. It's gone. It will NEVER recover. Other sites have been shutting down in mass numbers because they're all scared to shit of the same thing happening to them. Megaupload was the first summary execution.
Now, just ask yourself if the CRIMINALS that raided his house will be held to account for their CRIMES.
Ummm... No.
They will NEVER be prosecuted for their CRIMES. They are immune to prosecution. They are above the law.
What do you do with a CRIMINAL government/system?
And THAT, my friends, is why the US of A has the second amendment.
(This crap just sets me off...)
Stoic Joker:
They completely destroyed Megaupload. It's gone. It will NEVER recover. Other sites have been shutting down in mass numbers because they're all scared to shit of the same thing happening to them. Megaupload was the first summary execution.-Renegade (June 28, 2012, 11:01 AM)
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Agreed. They never gave a damn if the charges would "stick" ... They just wanted to sit back and watch the Shock and Awe ripple effect. The Italians did the same type of thing in Chicago back in the 40s. But the Feds thought that was criminal.
IainB:
They completely destroyed Megaupload. It's gone. It will NEVER recover. Other sites have been shutting down in mass numbers because they're all scared to shit of the same thing happening to them. Megaupload was the first summary execution.
-Renegade (June 28, 2012, 11:01 AM)
--- End quote ---
Agreed. They never gave a damn if the charges would "stick" ... They just wanted to sit back and watch the Shock and Awe ripple effect. The Italians did the same type of thing in Chicago back in the 40s. But the Feds thought that was criminal.
-Stoic Joker (June 28, 2012, 11:48 AM)
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You may well both be right - and if you are, then it is a sad indictment of the state of the US nation. I know next to nothing about the US legal/judicial system, or Kim Dotcom or MegaUpload to be able to make informed comment about them. If you recall, I commented about the NZ TV coverage of the Dotcom raid in NZ (see the post copied below). That comment was made by me as a Kiwi (an NZ citizen) who had great faith in the integrity of the police and NZ Defence Force personnel - I felt sure that the justification for the raid would become apparent as events unfolded:
I missed seeing the NZ TV3 programme when it aired, so watched it tonight on replay video:
Kim Dotcom's head of security, Wayne Tempero, walks John Campbell through the events on January 20 in a global TV exclusive.
Campbell Live enters Kim Dotcom's Coatesville mansion - Video
Campbell Live talks to Assistant Police Commissioner Malcolm Burgess, who signed off on the Dotcom police operation:
Police defend actions during Dotcom raid - Video
It doesn't make sense. I have the highest regard for the integrity of the NZ Defence and police people that I have had the opportunity to work with over the years. I feel sure there must be a lot more behind the charges against Mr Dotcom and possibly others, for the police to have acted in the way they did. For all we know, the police may be prohibited from telling us what it is.
"There were 70-odd officers distributed across a number of properties, executing up to 10 search warrants during the course of the day...
...There were 20 or 30 [officers] initially [at Dotcom's property] to seize the place..."
-IainB (February 08, 2012, 03:38 AM)
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However, the published ruling of New Zealand High Court judge Helen Winkelmann:
"...who today ripped the "invalid" warrant and the subsequent search and seizure in a 56-page decision." per arstechnica - here.
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- would apparently confirm that, as the arstechnica post put it, the raid:
"...was also totally illegal."
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To summarise: (as I understand it at this stage)
* The raid was carried out illegally by NZ police/military/SS officers (where "SS" means some kind of Special Services/Secret Services);
* This illegal (QED) act was carried out at the apparently documented behest of the police/SS agencies of a foreign power (USA);
* - which documentation is also apparently suspect and may be unlawful (per overseas media);
* The result is almost certainly likely to have entailed the collapse of the huge MegaUpload service/business, and the serious discombobulation and/or significant consequential financial loss for Dotcom's business, family, business associates, and legitimate customers of MegaUpload.
My view (FWIW):
* Presumably, speedy apology and reparation/restitution to the above parties (Dotcom's business, family, business associates, and legitimate customers of MegaUpload) would be in order.
* We could probably expect something like this (apology and reparation/restitution) being proposed at some stage by the objective New Zealand judiciary (whether the High Court judge, Helen Winkelmann or her judicial colleagues) - which reasonable expectation would seem to be supported by the pretty incisive judgement above.
* It would be reasonable to suppose that if an illegal action of such violence and severity can be executed against one NZ citizen (assuming Dotcom is a citizen) by the NZ officers of the law and/or NZ Defence personnel, then it could be executed against any citizen.
* If it could be carried out without the penalty of legally-enforced reparation/restitution, then that would be a nightmare.
Any citizen (myself included) would probably find such prospect to be a frightening thought. For example, if it became a reality, then it would mean that NZ had become quite literally little different to a Fascist Banana Republic.
I do not for a moment believe that to be the case - quite the opposite. NZ has usually shown itself - by its actions - to be a great little country to live in and with a strong backbone - worth having on your side.
For this reason, I reckon the above penalty - in the form of legally-enforced reparation/restitution - should be punitive as opposed to being based on replacement cost-of-consequential-loss. This would send a clear signal outwards. Damages are usually awarded by courts on one basis or the other - punitive or replacement - but not both. You would tend to see punitive damages being awarded to set an example and discourage recurrence of similar illegal behaviours/actions.
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